LAMPETER TOWN COUNCIL MINUTES OF THE MONTHLY MEETING OF THE 24.11.2016 AT ST PETER’S CHURCH HALL, LAMPETER AT 7.30PM Members were invited to participate in prayer before the onset of the meeting. Cllr Ann Morgan led members in prayer. 1. CHAIRPERSON’S WELCOME AND PERSONAL MATTERS The Mayor Cllr David Smith extended a warm welcome to all present. Members were sorry to hear of the passing-away of Cllr Christopher Thomas’ mother-in-law, earlier in the day. It was RESOLVED to convey the Town Council’s condolences. 2. Presentation: Canon Andy Herrick, Vicar of St Peter’s Church, Lampeter and Mayor’s Chaplain Canon Andy Herrick thanked the Town Council for the opportunity to discuss the present situation appertaining to the maintenance of St Peter’s Churchyard, Lampeter. St Peter's Church is situated in an extensive churchyard, used as a cemetery, on a raised site, at the top of Church Street, a landmark in the local landscape. It was built between 1867 and 1870, replacing a building of 1821-2 and an even earlier church, apparently of largely medieval fabric, which was first mentioned in 1291. Traces of the earlier structures can be observed amid the graves immediately south of the present church, which occupies the site of an enclosure, about 40m in diameter; this may have housed the rectory/vicarage. Parish Churches had historically been built by the Community for the Community/Social care and the bulk of the population participated in the life of the Church. Wealthy local families contributed to its maintenance. Today, the Church is seen in a different way. The Parish Church is no longer perceived as the responsibility of all and only a few people are involved in its upkeep via the Parochial Church Council PCC. St Peter’s Church, Lampeter forms a part of the Church in Wales. The main focus of Canon Herrick’s address revolved around the current maintenance of the Churchyard. St Peter’s Churchyard is a public cemetery; anyone in the Parish, regardless of belief can be buried within its boundary. He explained that it was a duty to maintain the graveyard to an acceptable level but presently the income did not cover the expenditure. Two Financial Funds were in place by St Peter’s Church viz (1) General Fund (2) Separate Churchyard Fund, but it was not possible to transfer funds from one account 1 to the other. The Treasurer had predicted that in 2/3 years, should the situation continue, a real problem could arise. Income had been generated from burials, but a sharp decline had been encountered in recent years, due to more people opting for cremation. Burial fees were fixed by the Welsh Government (WG) and had increased, of late. The average 5/6 burials per year in recent years at St Peter’s, did not cover the expenditure. Approximately £2,000 had been received in the last year for burials but the annual expenditure had been £5,000. Maintenance of the Churchyard included cutting the grass 6 times per year; use of strimmer; trim trees; maintain paths and gates. The public part of the churchyard and the footpath running through the Churchyard were heavily used. No lighting was available on the footpath. It was reported that Mr Eirwyn Williams maintained the footpath under the auspices of the Town Council; the Town Council had attended to the gate and paving slabs in past years. While every effort will be made by St Peter’s Church, Lampeter and the Church in Wales to maintain the Cemetery Rev. Herrick felt that members of the public should be made aware of the situation. He considered a number of options to encourage increased public involvement: Ideas for the future included: 1. Seek tenders once again; 2. Employing someone part-time 1-2 days per week for greater impact; 3. Utilise a part of the graveyard for wildlife; 4. Create Project with local school; 5. Palm Sunday: place letter on all graves to raise awareness of the situation; 6. Source Grants for example Commonwealth War Graves Grant and other grants, which could be available to Churches. 7. Set-up a Friends’ Group – Friends of the Churchyard; 8. Local groups to take responsibility for certain areas including paupers’ graves dating back to the days of the town’s old workhouse; 9. Set up a Community Trust to involve the town; 10. Set up local historian group to involve Chapels via Cytun. It was enquired whether the Town Council could help. The Mayor stated that whilst councillors sympathised with the Church’s plight, the Town Council was unable to provide funds for religious organisations but was prepared to help in any other way. Canon Herrick will look into the above to include the setting up of a Community Trust and will report back to the Town Council in due course. 3. PRESENT Canon Andy Herrick (for the Presentation only) Mayor Cllr. David Smith; Deputy-Mayor Cllr Hag Harris; Cllr Rhys Bebb- Jones; Cllr Elsie Dafis; Cllr Ann Morgan; Cllr Rob Philips; Cllr Selwyn Walters; Cllr Dorothy Williams. Simultaneous Translator: Carol Thomas. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE were received from: Cllr Andrew Carter; Cllr John Davies; Cllr Elin Jones; Cllr Kistiah Ramaya; Cllr Derek Wilson, Cllr Christopher Thomas. 4. DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL & PREJUDICIAL INTEREST The following declared a personal interest during the meeting: 2 4.1 Minute 9.4.2: Cllr Ann Morgan and Cllr Rob Phillips when the request for financial support from the Friends of Theatr Felinfach, was considered in order to stage a production of Teilwng yw’r Oen. 5. CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE 27th OCTOBER 2016 These were agreed to be a correct record and were signed by the Chairman. 6. MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MEETING 6.1 War Memorial Garden re possible transfer of the War Memorial Garden from the County Council to the Town Council. Cllr Elsie Dafis was of the opinion that the Mayor should take the lead, in relation to this matter, in partnership with the British Legion. During Cllr Dafis’ tenure as Mayor a civic procession and service had been arranged to commemorate the centenary of the departure of the yeomanry from Lampeter (10.08.2014) and the Consecration of the Lampeter War Memorial Fields - A Ceremony officiated by the Revd. Canon Brendan O’Malley (British Legion Chaplain) to re-dedicate Lampeter War Memorial Fields, which are dedicated to the memory of those who suffered and died as a result of the 2nd World War, took place on Tuesday 21st April 2015. Also, a rededication of the Gates which are in Memory of the 1st World War. 6.2 Maes-y-Felin Play Area: The Mayor Cllr David Smith and Deputy- Mayor Cllr Hag Harris had attended the meeting of Monday 14th November 2016 in the presence of Mr Llyr Edwards, Tai Ceredigion. Mr Edwards will inform the Town Council of the deliberations of the meeting. Not received as yet. 6.3 Signage (Birthplace of Rugby and home of the oldest University in Wales): It had been RESOLVED at the Town Council meeting of the 29th September 2016 to replace the present town entrance signs, for ones, which included straplines referring to the town’s status as the Birthplace of Rugby and home of the oldest University in Wales. Symbols could also feature. A meeting had been held between Cllr Selwyn Walters, Cllr Chris Thomas and County Officials to discuss the way forward concerning matters such as design, wording, sizes, cost and legal obligations. Communication received from Mr Tom Delph-Janiurek, Senior Engineer Traffic Management, Ceredigion CC on the 8/11/2016 stated that there is a limit to how much text, which can be incorporated into this type of signage without creating a potentially distracting hazard for road users. For this reason, a choice will have to be made regarding what may be included on the signage, which will have to be bilingual. Either a reference to rugby or the university may be included, plus the existing town twinning information. If a reference to both the rugby and the university is to be included, then the town twinning information will have to be dropped. A communication from Lindsey Gilroy, Principal Business Development Officer- Lampeter Campus stated that she had consulted with colleagues regarding the above and kindly asked whether two representations from UWTSD could be included within the agenda of this month’s Town Council meeting and to inform UWTSD of the responses. 3 The first representation from UWTSD 1. UWTSD would like to raise a proposal for the signage. UWTSD would very much like to propose that any new signage designed to raise the profile of the town includes the strapline: ‘Lampeter- home of the oldest University Institution in Wales’. (the word ‘Institution’ is important!) If we must choose between also including the wording of ‘Birthplace of Welsh Rugby’, or keeping the town Twinning signs up, that we remove the Twinning signs and replace with: “Lampeter- Home of the oldest University Institution in Wales and the Birthplace of Welsh Rugby”. Cllr Kistiah Ramaya, Chair of Lampeter Twinning Association conveyed his apologies for this meeting but wished it to be recorded in the minutes that, under no circumstances should the information regarding the Town Twinning with St. Germain sur Moine be removed. All neighbouring towns in Carmarthen and Ceredigion who are twinned with towns in Europe have a sign to that effect and are proud to display this information. It would be a grave mistake if ours was taken away. After careful deliberation, it was RESOLVED to keep the “Historic University Town” and information concerning the Town Twinning and to include two additional lines “Home of Welsh Rugby” (bilingual).